Friday, March 25, 2005

He's in charge of enterainment at Bolt.com and is fabulously out and proud young black man.

What makes this fact great is that he shares his point of view with teens and tweens (hate that word, but you get the point) and exposes them to a rational every day perspective that just so happen also happens to come from a gay black guy.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Am I the only one to notice that there have been a series of refinery fires over the past couple years. Today, another fire killed at least 14 in Texas.

I don't have access to news archives at the moment, but I don't think these are coincidences.

I could be wrong, but knowing our current government's preference for coverup, the woeful lack of security enhancements after 9/11 and much of the world's hatred for our country, it just seems that something bigger is going on.

Monday, March 21, 2005

In the past four and a quarter years, Bush has taken many, many, many vacations. Of the dozens he has taken, how many would you say he has ended early? There've been plenty of reasons to end them early...warnings of imminent attacks, natural disasters, war, genocide, you name it.

None of those moved him to end a holiday. But, finally, this past weekend, something did. It's unbelievable. Now, that's our moral leader.

This is so sad. This poor woman is apparently living helplessly and without hope, with little dignity, and her husband sought to end her life to give her and her family some sense of peace.

The parents fought long and hard to keep her alive, but state courts have ruled in favor of the husband. And, now, Congressional Republicans come in to save her life because all life is sacred to them -- unless, of course, you're on death row. Then, you're life -- not sacred.

In any case, this doesn't seem to be the real motivating factor. Surprise Surprise. Here are the actual talking points that they circulated this past weeked. Prepare to be unsurprised yet still sickened.

Oh, and when Bush was Governor of Texas, he signed into a law that made it possible for hospitals to end the lives of people on life support if they didn't have the means to continue to pay for it...

So, I guess amend the earlier statement to say that Republicans value all lives with the exception of those who are poor and on life support or who are on death row. Now, that's compassionate conservatism.

I don't have a living will -- and neither does Carl -- but I think that even though I know my mother and sister would not want me to live as the sick woman in Florida has been forced to live by her parents and the Florida government, it's still in my best interest to make a living will...for everyone to make a living will.

Kos has a good post about the Florida case and what the American people think about all this here.

Here's a site that can help you write a living will (no endorsement implied).

Sunday, March 13, 2005

What, on the surface, would seem like a good thing -- Bush's budget proposal to slash spending on Farm subsidies that largely goes to help, you guessed it, big corporations and not the little guy -- is now being turned on it's ear by republican senators, who, instead, now want to...

Wait for it...

Here it comes...

And it's not exactly shocking -- more par for the course...

They want to maintain the subsidies and slash spending on food stamps and childhood nutritional plans.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Some time ago, I wrote about a Right to Die case in Boston in which my friend Gary was the attorney representing the family. In this case, the patient has Lou Gherig's disease and the family did not want her to die, but the hospital claimed it was cruel to keep the patient on life support.

And, while I'm at it, I have not yet heard the Aristocrat (spoilers within link) joke (I don't think), but I am positively vibrating with anticipation. It just can't possibly be as funny as what I hope for. Can it? I hope I'm surprised.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

We met so many of our friends and had so much of a good time over the many years at Revolver, that it's almost hard to write about. Revolver closed down last July and will eventually become another bar -- I hear it will be East West Lounge -- but, in its time, it was THE best gay bar to go to in L.A. It had a great crowd, played the best music and had a team of editors who created the standard in hilarious videos.

One of these guys was Dan-o-rama, who wasn't there long and is now quite busy editing for the world. Today, by accident, I stumbled across Dan-o-rama and his site (via the fabulous PageSixSixSix) and one of his landmark videos.

You gotta see it to enjoy it. It will give a brief, fleeting feeling of the fun & heady times we all had at the Revolver.

Meanwhile, rumor has it that certain well-loved foreign bartenders from Revolver -- along with a video producer -- may be reconvening at another watering hole somewhere in the greater L.A. metropolis. They aren't over the hill. Well, they aren't figuratively. Literally, may be another matter. But, alas, I may have said too much already.

Details of the happy reunion to come over the next few weeks. Also, more about what Revolver meant to so many people in the weeks and months to come.

The new Minimu Wag bill making its way thru congress seems like it may be a good thing, but, typically, it's not what it looks like.

If only we could go back to the good old early part of the 20th century when immigrants were crammed into padlocked dirty rooms, working for a pittance, often at the risk of death -- Triangle Shirt Company anyone...

"Licensing Sweatshops: While a $1.10 per hour minimum wage increase by itself would help 1.8 million workers, Santorum includes a poison bill exempting any business with revenues of $1 million or less from regulation -- raising the exemption from the current $500,000 level.

"The upshot: while 1.2 million workers could qualify for a minimum wage increase, another 6.8 million workers, who work in companies with revenues between $500,000 and $1,000,000 per year, would lose their current minimum wage protection."

It's another sick and twisted attempt to fatten the rich cats at the expense of the lower classes (Yes, I am sounding a bit more strident today, but it's really starting to piss me off.).

Republicans are rolling back taxes, corporate regulations and individual rights and we -- the majority of the country who will be negatively affected by this -- need to come up with a short, sweet way to frame it.

Nothing new, just worse. The new bankruptcy law going through congress is designed to give more protection to corporations and the rich and less protection for normal midlde class and lower middle class and lower still (including the elderly and veterans).

It's disgusting. It's shameful. And several democratic senators have been supporting it.

A particularly enlightening and detailed description, found here, should stir you to action.